Hanoi 2

Hanoi 2

Monday, April 7
You can get used to a lot, and maybe that is why the train ride back to Hanoi was a very nice trip sleep wise. At 10 o’clock pm the last Danes onboard this train tucked in which meant we had quite a long night's sleep until we were roused at around 05 with the message that we would be in Hanoi in half an hour. But before we were there it was 6 o’clock which was only an advantage for us because we could not get into any rooms at our hotel so early. So before breakfast was ready, we went for a walk around the Hoan Kiem Lake. The city was almost asleep when we drove through the streets to the hotel, and there were not many people in the streets when we walked to the lake, but around the lake it was filled with joggers - not teenagers, but mostly adults who walked or did exercises of various kinds - many in groups and following a leader and perhaps there was musical accompaniment - several also had something in their hands e.g. fans which looked very nice when they did their exercises. Back at the hotel we got breakfast, and within a few hours we had all got rooms again, got our suitcases back into the rooms, so now we are here again for a few days. It was a day off, and it was nice to come back to a nice bathroom and shower, nice beds and clean laundry! We have done a bit of shopping, Birgit and I have ordered clothes and Anette and Erik went to a theatre performance. We had a little rain this morning, but it was while we had breakfast, so it meant nothing to us. Otherwise the weather has been nice and we have enjoyed the temperatures after the lower temperatures in Sapa, and we manage the city's traffic better and better. We ate dinner at a rooftop restaurant nearby where we've eaten before.

Morning Gymnastics

Tai Chi

Khoas house in Hanoi

Tuesday, April 8
Today was a day off – we could do whatever suited us. We now know the immediate area so well that we can wander around the town without problems, so today was the day to visit the museums, we had planned, enjoy walking by the lake, where we always have the opportunity to have a talk with students who want to practice their English with us or we could go shopping or something quite different. We are constantly encouraged to buy when we walk about, but I think we have learnt to reject, if we do not want to buy. Birgit and I wanted to visit the Catholic cathedral, but without success as it was closed, but instead we had quite a talk with three nice young students who were also unsuccessfully looking for the entrance to the church. Several of us have at one time or another visited a very nice rooftop restaurant which is beautifully situated down by the lake and we had our lunch there. Today's picture was taken there. When we met for supper two Vietnamese girls who work at the same agency - Oanh and Van - joined us. They are very nice girls that we have met once before and maybe they will also have dinner with us tomorrow. They both speak quite good English, and they told us something that surprised us. We told them that we have problems knowing all the Vietnamese girls we meet from each other and asked if they felt the same way with us. Yes, they did. They thought Birgit and Anette looked much the same, Gunver and I were probably sisters, and Henning and Erik also looked the same - only Tom had no partner. The two girls left all of a sudden. They had had an sms saying that if they did not come back to the office very quickly their motorcycles would be locked up in the office for the night! This meant breaking up for the rest of the group too - Birgit and I went back to the hotel while the others went to the Backpackers Corner for a beer.

Busy traffic in Hanoi

Note the myriad of wires in Hanoi

Grethe and Birgit in front of the Catholic church in Hanoi

Dinner (from facebook)

Vicedirektor Thu Ha at Universitetet in Hanoi

How are the students at the university accommodated in Hanoi

Henning gives lectures at the University of Hanoi

Wednesday, April 9
Today again we could decide ourselves when to have our breakfast and for how long as there was no program. Henning was picked up at 7 when Thuy came to take him along to a large festival held in honour of the founders of the Vietnamese nation about 3000 years before Christ. When he came home he told us about it - there had been more than 200,000 people gathered there today. But the rest of us had their own ideas on how to spend the day. There was shopping to be done, the woman museum was visited and also the Hoan Kiem Lake which means a chat with some students - yes, it is almost impossible to avoid, unless one looks very angry and unapproachable. They always come very politely up to you and ask if you have time to talk with them. Today there were a lot of young couples who were photographed by the lake for their wedding book - probably because half the day was off today. Birgit and I have acquired a taste for the view of the lake from the rooftop of the hotels adjacent to the lake so we had lunch there today; Anette and Erik also had lunch by the lake while Gunver and Tom have been around many places in the city today. Later Birgit and I took half an hour in the front seat of a cyclo - something that one gets invited to many times during a day. We got a little of the man's life story along the way and saw pictures of him with his wife and their three children. He lives alone in Hanoi, while his family lives in the country quite far from here. He only comes home to visit a few times during the year, and in Hanoi he shares the room with approx. 10 others. The reason why he came to Hanoi is that there are so few jobs out there. Tonight dinner was eaten at Little Hanoi and as dessert we had a cake given to us by Van who had dinner with us last night. While we were there Thuy and her husband came to say hello to us. She can not come on Monday, when we go home, and came today instead. The suitcases are packed away again and our small suitcases ready for the trip to Halong Bay in the morning.

Festival Tungs King

By Hoa Kiem Lake

Hanoi

Backpackers corner

Bachpackers corner
Thu + Thuy

Sisters Thu and Thuy

Kieu Anh and her 2 children